SOLAR ENERGY
Tynsolar extends losses
Solar module maker Tynsolar Corp (頂晶科技) yesterday said it last month lost NT$10 million (US$328,753), widening from a loss of NT$7 million in the same period a year ago, a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) showed. The company lost a total of NT$17 million in February and last month, more than a loss of NT$10 million in the same period last year, the filing showed. The TWSE requested that Tynsolar disclose its financial figures due to an abnormal share price movement.
BANKING
Fubon silent on HK unit
Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) yesterday declined to respond to speculation that it is looking to sell its Hong Kong-based banking unit. Analysts have said that Fubon Bank (Hong Kong) (富邦香港) earnings and market share have been slipping since 2011, and that a decision to sell the unit would not be improbable. The subsidiary last year contributed about 5.8 percent of Fubon Financial’s total earnings last year, company data showed.
INSURANCE
Transglobe still profitable
Transglobe Life Insurance Co (全球人壽) yesterday said that it has maintained profitability, despite the rapid appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar exhausting its foreign exchange reserves. As of the end of last quarter, foreign exchange reserves had fallen to NT$2 billion, down 47 percent from the same period a year ago, the company said. At the end of last year, the company’s investments totaled NT$900 billion, generating returns of 4.07 percent against a cost of capital of 4.27 percent, it added. Transglobe Life said that it is hoping to remedy its negative interest spread by 10 basis points annually as the US commences an interest rate increase cycle. Net income last year totaled NT$3 billion, it said.
MANUFACTURING
Kinpo receives certification
Kinpo Electronics Inc (金寶電子) yesterday announced that it has earned certification to use Medical Devices Directive CE marking, which it said would help expand its access to markets in the EU. The company outlined plans to leverage the new certification by teaming up with Makalot Industrial Co (聚陽實業), one of the nation’s top garment manufacturers, in a bid to win contracts for heart rate sensor-equipped smart apparel from international firms such as Under Armour Inc and Fila Inc. Kinpo said that it would also develop its own brand of heart rate monitor-equipped athletic wear featuring improved moisture wicking and muscle compression, adding that the new products are expected to launch in Taiwan and the US in the second half of this year. Kinpo sales last quarter rose 3.4 percent annually to NT$28.88 billion, the firm said.
AUTO INDUSTRY
Taipei trade shows open
The Taipei International Auto Parts and Accessories Show, as well as three other trade shows related to automotive products, yesterday opened at the Taipei World Trade Center and the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Hall. More than 1,300 local companies are taking part in the shows, which are to run through Sunday, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (外貿協會) said in a statement. Participants include Depo Auto Parts Industrial Co (帝寶工業) and SuperAlloy Industrial Co Ltd (巧新), it added. The four events are forecast to attract more than 6,700 foreign buyers, the council said.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue would rise moderately in the second half of this year, driven primarily by robust demand for advanced wafers used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “The first quarter is the lowest point of this cycle. The second half will be better than the first for the whole semiconductor industry and for GlobalWafers,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during an online investors’ conference. “HBM would definitely be the key growth driver in the second half,” Hsu said. “That is our big hope
The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by